Calling My Angel
by onetreehilloltlgirl
Summary: C/M fic, based off the movie Just Like Heaven better summary inside .
1. Chapter 1

Calling My Angel

Summary: Monica Gellar had a lot of life left to live when she was in a tragic car accident. Chandler Bing never had any luck in the relationship department. When he meets Monica, he thinks she's what he has been waiting for his entire life; problem is he's the only one who can see her. Can these two come together in their time of need and help eachother out? Based on the movie, Just Like Heaven.

Disclaimer: The only one I own is Hannah Gellar.

Chapter 1

"Hannah, honey please sit still?" Monica begged her 3 year old daughter, who was squirming while her mother was trying to put her shoes on. "Just this once."

Hannah stopped moving and pouted slightly causing Monica to smile. Hannah was the most energetic kid she had ever met. She could never remember having that much energy...ever.

"Mommy hurry! Auntie Rachel will be here any minute." Hannah said.

Monica laughed. "I know, thats why you have to stop squirming so I can get this shoe on you before she gets here." She finally managed to get the shoe on and tied, just in time for Rachel to enter the apartment.

"Where's my favorite niece?" Rachel asked as she walked into her best friend's apartment.

Hannah giggled. "Auntie Rach, I'm right here. You can see me."

Rachel laughed along with the little girl. "Well so I can." She said humoring Hannah. "You ready for a day of shopping with me?"

Hannah nodded enthusiastically. "I just wish Mommy was coming."

Monica smiled sadly at her daughter and kissed the little girl's head. "I wish I could sweetie, but Mommy has to work."

"But why?" Hannah inquired.

"Because we need money for food and all those clothes you insist on getting." Monica said getting a laugh out of Hannah.

"Then I should get a Daddy, so you wouldn't have to spend all YOUR money on me." Hannah said simply.

"Honey we've talked about this." Monica sighed. "It's not that easy. First I have to meet a guy and then we have to fall in love."

"So meet a guy." Hannah said.

Rachel had to laugh at the 3 year old's persistence. "She's got a point, Mon."

Monica scoffed and looked at her best friend. "And your one to talk, Rach?"

Rachel shrugged. "I'll have you know I have a date tonight...with your brother I might add."

Monica smiled. She was glad her brother had finally decided to confess his feelings to Rachel. It had been a long time coming and truth be told, Monica was sick of hearing his complaining whenever Rachel went out on dates with other men.

"That's great!" Monica exclaimed checking her watch. "Crap, I'm going to be late."

"Mommy, you said a bad word." Hannah said pointing her finger at her mother.

Monica rolled her eyes, quickly mouthed her apology, stuck 25 cents in the swear jar, kissed her daughter goodbye and ran out the door while grabbing her purse.

Two hours later, Rachel and Hannah entered Monica's apartment to find Ross sitting on the couch, his head in his hands. When he looked up, they could see he had been crying.

"Auntie Rachel, why is Uncle Ross sad?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know honey." She said concerned. "Hey, why don't you go put your things in your room, maybe try on an outfit for Uncle Ross." Rachel suggested, to which the little girl responded by darting to her room immediately, excited to play fashion show.

"Ross, you ok?" Rachel asked.

Ross shook his head and took her hand as she sat on the coffee table across from him.

"What's going on? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at work?" Rachel continued to throw questions at him, not waiting for an answer for fear of what it would be.

"Rach, there's something I need to tell you." He struggled to suppress another sob that wanted to escape. "It's about Mon...there was an accident."

"Thanks, Gunther." Chandler Bing smiled at the platinum-blonde headed waiter, who had just handed him his coffee. Gunther smiled slightly in return before moving on to the next customer.

Chandler walked out the door, just in time to collide right into a woman.

"Oh I'm so sorry." Chandler said apologizing. "I should have been watching where I was going." He said pulling back and standing up going to offer her his hand, but noticing she was already on her feet.

"It's ok." The woman said smiling sincerely at him. "I was the one not paying attention."

Chandler smiled at her and gulped as he looked at her. She was beautiful, with medium length raven colored hair that was slightly curled at the ends, a warm smile and the most intense bright blue eyes he had ever seen. She was easily the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in real life.

"We can both take fault then." Chandler said suddenly, getting a laugh from the woman. _Even her laugh is amazing. _Chandler thought. "I'm Chandler."

"Monica." She said holding out her hand for him to shake. His hand went straight through hers it seemed. They tried again and the same thing happened.

_Too weird._ Monica thought, but then again her whole day was a little off. She even felt weirder then usual, like she could float on air if she wanted to.

"Monica, nice to meet you." He said. "So why are you in such a frenzy to get somewhere? Not that it's any of my business, I'm just wondering."

Monica shrugged. "I just want to get home."

"Oh ya, I know the feeling." Chandler laughed. "You know, I've lived around here for awhile now and I can't remember ever seeing you."

"I know, I just moved into an apartment on Morton, a couple months ago." She explained.

"I live on Morton too." Chandler said smiling. Strange, he wasn't usually this forward with woman he had just met. There was just something about her.

"Really?" Monica smiled. "Well then maybe I'll see ya around sometime." She said sounding hopeful.

"Yeah that would be great." Chandler agreed. He couldn't believe his luck. This gorgeous woman wanted to go out with him...an average looking guy who made way to many jokes and had never really had a serious relationship. _She doesn't know that, doorknob._ He quickly reminded himself. "How about we meet for coffee say tomorrow night?"

Monica thought about it and nodded. "I like the sound of that, tomorrow at 7?"

He smiled and nodded. "It's a date."

Monica smiled, wished him a good night and walked away, just as his friend Phoebe came up.

"Phoebe, did you see that? I just got a date with an incredibly beautiful woman." Chandler grinned happily.

Phoebe smiled. "Really? Who?"

"She's right..." He turned around, it had only been a few seconds, not long enough for Monica to just disappear from plain vision. "She was right there...I swear."

"Chandler I've been watching you for the past few minutes. You looked like you were talking to yourself, and what have I told you about laughing at your own jokes, it's not as endearing as it seems." Phoebe said with a frown.

"No." Chandler insisted. "There was a woman here. Her name's Monica, she moved to the area a few months ago. She's beautiful, she's got long dark hair, she's a little shorter than you and she has the most amazing blue eyes."

"Chandler there was no one there when I saw you and like I said I've been watching you for like 10 minutes." Phoebe said giving him a strange look.

Chandler shook his head. Surely Phoebe had to be wrong. Monica had been there and she had agreed to go out with him. There was no way he could dream all that up. "Phoeb's, I'm telling you, she was right there, she agreed to go out with me." He said dreamily. "I know I said I didn't believe in love at first sight, but if I did, I definitely would think this is it." He said and ignored the looks she was giving him. He continued walking back to his apartment, his thoughts on Monica.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chandler paced around the living room of his apartment waiting for his roommate, Joey, to get home. He had to talk to him and soon. There was a feeling he had gotten when he met Monica that he couldn't describe and it was eating him alive.

Joey entered the apartment a few minutes later with a sub in one hand and a case of beer in the other.

"Dude, thank god your here." Chandler said going over to sit on the counter in front of Joey who was giving him a strange look. "I gotta talk to you."

"Are you ready to come out of the closet?" Joey asked causing Chandler to roll his eyes and give him a glare. "Cause if you are, it's alright. I'm completely cool with the gay thing."

"For the last time Joe, I-am-not-gay." Chandler said putting major emphasis on his last few words. "Actually what I wanted to talk to you about is about a woman."

Joey's eyes brightened immediately. "Ooh, about time." He grinned. "Is she hot?"

Chandler again rolled his eyes. This was the reaction he had been expecting. "Yes she's hot...very, but that's not what this is about."

"Wow this is serious." Joey said handing Chandler a beer and leaning against the other side of the counter. "What's up."

"Have you ever gotten a feeling when your around a woman and you just know there's something there, like a connection of some sort?" Chandler asked.

Joey thought about it and shook his head. "Can't say I have, unless your talking about a sexual connection, in which case I have them all the time."

"Look who I'm asking, the Porn King of the East Village." He exclaimed. He then decided to use a hypothetical scenario instead. "Ok say your just walking down the street and you run, and I mean literally run, into some girl.."

Joey interrupted him. "Is she hot?"

"Yes." Chandler said sounding annoyed.

"What's her name?" Joey asked.

"Mandy." Chandler answered hoping that would be the end of the interruptions.

"What's she look like?" Joey asked.

"Joey, it's a hypothetical scenario, she's not real, so who cares." Chandler said raising his voice a little.

"I'm sorry, I like to have a mental image when you ask me these types of things." Joey reasoned.

"Ok I'm sorry, picture whoever you want...picture her to look like Elle MacPherson." Chandler said.

This got a smile out of Joey and Chandler decided to continue.

"Ok so you run head first into Mandy and immediately you feel this connection, one unlike you've felt with any other woman. You can't take your eyes off her and you get the feeling she feels the same." Chandler paused and made sure Joey was still visualizing this. "Anyways she agrees to go out with you and your left with this feeling of pure bliss afterwards, like your in love."

"Whoa." Joey interrupted. "You love this girl?"

Chandler shrugged. "I don't know. What I feel is unlike anything I've ever felt before and if this isn't love at first sight, I don't know what it is."

"I thought you didn't believe in that kind of stuff?" Joey asked.

"I didn't, but then I met Monica." Chandler said, his eyes gleaming.

"Monica? That's the girls name?" Joey asked and Chandler nodded.

"She's amazing Joe, so beautiful and her voice gave me shivers." He then pulled himself out of his trance. "It was weird though, it was like she couldn't get away from me fast enough afterwards. Phoebe came to talk to me not 5 seconds after Monica left and she said she didn't see anything, she thought I was talking to myself."

Joey shrugged. "Phoebe's Phoebe, she's nutty."

Chandler laughed. "Yeah your right about that."

"So tell me more about this girl." Joey said with a childlike grin on his face as he and Chandler sat in their respective barcaloungers. "Is she the one?"

"I don't know, she's pretty special though." Chandler admitted. "I guess I'll see after our date tomorrow night."

"She agreed to go out with you?" Joey asked.

Chandler nodded. "That's what the most amazing part about it was. Usually a girl like her would take one look at me and be gone."

"She's obviously different." Joey said. "Good for you man, it's your turn to be the apartment stud." He joked.

Chandler smiled. "There's a first time for everything I guess."

Just then Phoebe ran in in a hurry and turned on the TV immediately upon entrance. "Did you guys see the news?"

"No why?" Chandler asked.

"There was a major car accident here in The Village this morning, some woman was t-boned by a drunk driver and the car smashed into a pole. I just saw the spot where it happened, the police have it cordened off and everything." Phoebe said without taking a breath.

"Whoa Phoeb's breath." Joey said.

Phoebe ignored him and sat down on the arm of Chandler's barcalounger and began to flip through the channels to the news.

"So sad." She exclaimed. "They said she's not even 30, she has a little girl and she's in a coma."

She finally landed on the right channel.

_"And breaking news just in regarding this mornings car accident in The Village. The name of the driver of the car has been released as her family has been notified. Her name's Monica Gellar. There is also confirmation that she is a chef at a restaurant known as Allesandro's and she is the mother to 3 year old Hannah Gellar."_

"Whoa Chandler, isn't that coincidental." Joey asked. "The woman you met this afternoons name was Monica.

Chandler just nodded. For some reason he felt his heart breaking for this family. He couldn't understand why though. Sure he always felt bad when things like this happened but it was as if it had happened to him.

"Chandler, you ok?" Phoebe asked snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah." Chandler swallowed, hoping his voice wouldn't give away his true feelings. "I just feel bad for the family, she has a little girl.."

"Aww that's sweet." Phoebe smiled at him. "Are you still thinking about that woman you met this afternoon?"

He nodded. "Of course. I've got a date tomorrow night." He said suddenly feeling his sad thoughts dissolve a little as he perked up again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ross paced around the living room of his little sister's apartment waiting for Rachel to arrive. They were going to tell Hannah, in as gentle a way as possible, about Monica. He didn't know how they were going to do it. Monica was the only parent Hannah had ever known. Her birth father, a guy known as Fun Bobby, was the love em' and leave em' type. He and Monica had went out for awhile, slept together once and as soon as Monica told him she was pregnant, he took off. The rest was ancient history.

They hadn't been able to tell Hannah the night before about Monica because the 3 year old had passed out cold right after dinner and they didn't want to wake her up, so Rachel had stayed at Monica's apartment that night and Ross had taken her to pre-school that morning, simply stating that Monica had had to go to work early, which was not an uncommon occurrence. Rachel had left to pick up Hannah a half our ago and would be home anytime.

As if on cue, she entered with the very talkative little girl trailing behind her. Ross had to laugh. It was amazing just how much Hannah was like Monica. Besides beings a miniature replica of her mother, she also had her mother's personality, her ability to care about others, her organizational skills and also her love of talking.

"So Maddie told Ms. Winters that I was the one who had colored the wall and I got in trouble for it but then Chrissy said that she had sawed what happened and she told Ms. Winters the truth so Maddie got punished." Hannah told Rachel, finishing the story of her obviously busy day.

"That's great Han." Rachel said smiling at the little girl before helping her to take off her coat. "Honey there's something Ross and I need to talk to you about."

"Ok but where's Mommy? She's always here when I get home, but Uncle Ross is here." She said sounding confused.

Rachel sighed and picked the little girl up, carrying her over to the couch and placing her is Ross' lap.

"That's what we need to talk to you about sweetie." Ross explained. "Hannah, do you know what a hospital is?"

Hannah nodded. "It's where they take care of sick people. Did Mommy go there to see someone who's sick?"

Ross shook his head, trying to keep the tears from falling. "Not exactly. Mommy went there because she's sick."

"Mommy's sick?" Hannah asked worriedly. "But I saw her last night and she looked ok."

Rachel looked at the little girl oddly. "Honey, that's not possible. Your Mommy was in the hospital in a coma last night. That's why I stayed with you."

"What's a comma?" Hannah asked.

"Coma." Ross corrected her. "It's something that happens to people when they have a really bad accident and bump their head. It's basically like being in a deep sleep." He decided not to tell her the part about how a lot of people never wake up, not wanting to scare her anymore than she already was.

"But Mommy was here last night." Hannah insisted. "She told me a story and sang to me like she always does."

Rachel wiped the tears from her eyes. She didn't understand why Hannah kept insisting that Monica had been there, when it wasn't possible. "Hannah, I think you were dreaming that your Mommy was here, she's been in the hospital since yesterday afternoon."

"No, she was here." The little girl insisted. "I saw her." She climbed off Ross' lap, ran to her room and slammed the door.

"Well that went well." Ross sighed as he stood up. "She's too young to understand."

"I wonder why she's so insistent that Monica was here." Rachel questioned.

Ross shrugged. "Like you said Rach, she obviously had some kind of dream where she saw Monica. She's a kid, I woudn't read too much into it."

Rachel nodded, but couldn't help shake the feeling that there was more to the story than meets the eye. "So are we going to take her to see Mon?"

"I don't know, you saw the way she reacted. I don't want to upset her anymore." Ross said.

"I know, but Monica needs her and that little girl needs her." Rachel said.

Ross let out a deep sigh, not knowing what to do.

Later that same night.

Chandler sat at a table waiting for his date, Monica to arrive. It was already nearing 8 o'clock and she was an hour late. It was becoming blatantly obvious that he had been stood up. He checked his watch again and stood up, not wanting to continue being stared at by the waiters who were shooting him sympathy glances. He left the restaurant and started walking towards his home. He stopped at a local newsstand to pick up the paper he got nearly everyday.

While he way waiting in line, he started thumbing through the pages when he landed on an article about the accident the previous day. The article was short, basically stating what had happened but there was one line that stood out.

_"Charges are pending on the driver, Brock Stillwell, in the accident that left the driver of the other car, Monica Gellar, in a coma." _

Beside the article was a picture that caught Chandler's eye immediately. He couldn't believe his eyes. The woman in the picture was the same woman he had met the day before, the woman who had agreed to go out with him and then stood him up. But it said the accident had happened the previous morning. He had met Monica the previous afternoon. How was it possible that he could have seen her and talked to her. Maybe Phoebe was right, maybe he had just dreamed her up.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He finished paying for the paper and turned and started walking down the desserted street to his apartment building.

"Chandler?" He heard a voice call him. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He'd recognize that voice anywhere. It was the same voice that had sent chills to his spine the day before. Monica's voice. He turned around and saw her standing there looking very anxious and upset.

"Monica." He mouthed, just loudly enough for her to hear.

She nodded and walked towards him. "I'm so sorry about dinner, I didn't mean for it to seem like I was standing you up. I've just had the strangest day."

Chandler backed away from her, startled as he remembered the picture and article in the paper.

"No..no." He mutter incomprehensibly.

"What?" Monica asked confused. "What's wrong, you look like you've seen a ghost."

"No...you can't be here." Chandler said.

"Why not? I live around here." Monica exclaimed, now even more confused.

"Your supposed to be lying in a hospital bed, in a coma." He said quickly.

"Coma? What are you talking about?" Monica asked with a short laugh.

"The paper...they said you had an accident and were in Beth Israel Hospital in a coma." He said. "But if your here, how can you be there?"

"I don't know what's going on but if it has anything to do with standing you up, I'm sorry." Monica again apologized.

He then realized she honestly had no idea what he was talking about. He looked at the paper in his hands.

"Here." He muttered, holding out the paper with the article for her to see. "Read this."

She complied and bit back a gasp. "Oh my god."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Monica's jaw dropped even further as she read through the article containing the details of her supposed accident. "Not possible." She kept mouthing to herself, though Chandler could here her.

"If your here, then who's in that hospital bed?" Chandler asked looking at her for some sort of answer.

Monica shrugged. "How should I know."

"Come on, we need to go somewhere to talk, somewhere quiet." Chandler insisted, going to reach for her hand. His hand went straight through like it had the day before. "Ok this is getting to be to weird."

Monica nodded in agreement as they started walking towards Central Park. "I feel like i'm trapped in the Twilight Zone or something. Weird things have been happening to me since yesterday."

"What do you mean weird things?" Chandler asked.

"You know, stuff like what happened here just now with our hands. I feel like I've been losing track of time and people have been ignoring me. Some guy almost trampled right over me yesterday and didn't even give it another thought, he just kept walking." She replayed the events of the past 24 hours to him and he kept nodding for her to go on. "The weirdest thing is that I keep having flashbacks."

"What kinds of flashbacks?" Chandler asked as they found a bench to sit on in a less crowded area of the park.

"I don't know, it's like i'm driving and all of a sudden headlights are coming straight for me and then nothing." Monica said and trembled as she had another flash.

"Monica are you ok?" Chandler asked worriedly. Her face had went even paler than it had been before if that was possible.

"Yeah." She mumbled, breathing deeply to calm her nerves.

"Alright, I'm no doctor or anything even remotely close to it, but I can tell there is something seriously wrong here." Chandler said.

Monica gave him a look as if to say 'duh'.

Chandler smiled slightly at her look. "It's just, you having this flashbacks, the article in the paper with your picture, the fact that your hand slips through mine...it's like your a ghost."

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing." Monica said with a burst of laughter.

"Just think about it." Chandler urged.

The more Monica thought about it, the more his theory made sense. "Wait..wait a minute. Say you are right and I am some sort of ghost...are you telling me that doesn't freak you out? Most people would be running away screaming."

Chandler nodded. "Don't think I didn't think about it." He said only half-joking. He then looked at her seriously. "There's just something about you." He said and wished he could stroke a piece of her fair, a wayward hair that had fallen over her face. "It's like fate brought us together."

"Fate huh." Monica smiled.

Chandler ignored the comment and continued. "Why is it that is seems like i'm the only one who can see you?" He questioned and noticed Monica nodding along. "Yesterday after I first asked you out and you disappeared, my friend Phoebe showed up not 2 seconds later. She said she had been watching me for the past few minutes and that it looked like I had been talking to myself, she had never seen you. Then she comes in when I'm talking to my friend Joey, going on about some accident that had happened that morning, the same accident which the paper claims you were in. Tell me that fate didn't have a part in that."

"I guess." Monica reluctantly agreed. "That makes sense. It would certainly explain why people have been ignoring me, including my own brother." She said and rolled her eyes. Her eyes widened as something dawned on her. "Wait, if I'm a 'ghost' as you say, that means I'm dead." She stood up and started pacing nervously. "I can't be dead, Chandler, I have a little girl, she's only 3 and I'm the only parent she's got."

Chandler nodded understandingly. If there had been any doubt in his mind that she wasn't the same woman as was in the accident, her admission to having a daughter just threw any doubts away.

He stood up to look her directly in the eyes. "Monica calm down."

She looked at him like he had 2 heads. "I can't calm down, don't you understand? I have a daughter, I have a life."

"I know that but remember, the article says you are in a coma, meaning you are still to some extent alive." He reminded her.

That brought a little smile to Monica's face, but it quickly disappeared. "So what am I some figment of your imagination?"

"I don't know what you are exactly, but I do know that we were supposed to meet. I am supposed to help you. With what exactly, I don't know." He said. "But I intend to find out if it kills me. We will get you back to your little girl if it's the last thing I do." He insisted. "Can you trust me?"

Monica looked down at her feet before looking back up into his eyes. "Yes, I trust you." She said confidently.

"Good." He smiled at her. "Now come on." He motioned for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To find your body." He said and laughed slightly when he realized how strange that must have sounded. He smiled when he realized that she was laughing to.

As they walked to the hospital, Chandler wanted to hear more about Monica. He was feeling himself more and more drawn to her by the minute. Could it be possible to love someone who wasn't really real?

"So your a chef?" He asked her.

She nodded. "I am the head chef at Allesandros."

Chandler grinned. "Really? I eat there a lot, mostly for lunch. I work in the office tower across the street."

"Small world." Monica laughed.

"Your not kidding." Chandler exclaimed. "So tell me about your daughter." He was taking all the back ways he knew the get to the hospital to avoid people giving him strange looks.

Monica smiled at the mention of her daughter. "Well her name's Hannah. She's 3 years old and the light of my life."

"I figured." Chandler smiled.

"She goes to preschool. She loves to shop, which is my friend Rachel's fault." Monica said shaking her head with a smile. "She's perfect."

"Sounds like." Chandler said with a laugh. "Of course she would have to be with you for a mother." He quipped.

"Well aren't you just the charmer." Monica smiled. "But thank you and I don't just mean for the compliment. Thank you for your help, as odd as this situation may be."

Chandler smiled appreciatively. "Well it's not everyday I get to spend time with a beautiful woman, believe me."

"No girlfriend?" Monica questioned.

He shook his head. "Not right now. I've had a couple but never anything really serious. My two last girlfriends ended up cheating on me. One went back to her ex-husband, the other was sleeping with her co-star."

"I'm sorry." Monica said sincerely. How could those women do something like that? She could tell even just from knowing him for a day that he was a great guy.

Chandler shrugged as if it was no big deal. "It's ok. So what about you? Any guys in your life?"

Monica shook her head.

"None?" Chandler asked surprised. Surely a woman like her would have guys lined up for miles.

"Nope." Monica sighed. "Most guys find out I have a daughter and they take off, so I just don't really date period."

"You agreed to go out on a date with me." Chandler reminded her.

Monica smiled. "Well maybe I could tell you were just different."

Chandler's face broke into a mile wide grin, but he wiped the look off his face before she noticed. "What about Hannah's father?"

It was now Monica's turn to shrug. "He was an ex-boyfriend of mine. His name was Fun-Bobby. We dated for a couple months, slept together once. We broke up, I found out I was pregnant and told him. I gave him the option to be involved, but he didn't want to be."

Chandler's heart broke for the pain in her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that. He's an idiot then."

Monica laughed. "Well his nickname definitely suited him. Fun was all he was in for."

Chandler laughed along with her as they finally reached the back entrance to the hospital. "Well this is it. You ready?"

She nodded but he noticed she was tense. He offered her a reassuring smile. "It'll be ok." He whispered.

"Ok, let's do this." Monica said and without thinking, grabbed for his hand. For the first time since she had met him, she could feel his touch and he hers. It was like electricity shot through them both. They both pulled away and laughed.

"My lady." Chandler said and held the door open for her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chandler walked right up to the reception desk of Beth Israel Hospital and looked at the nurse, who was on the phone.

"Excuse me." He said.

She looked at him and acknowledged that she knew he was there and would be with him in a minute. He looked at his shoes, which he saw had made black scuff marks on the floor. He used the tip of his shoe to try and remove the marks when the nurse finally hung up the phone.

"How may I help you?" She asked plastering a smile on her face. Chandler looked at her nametag, which read Elizabeth Murphy.

"I'm uh..looking for someone." Chandler explained.

"Name?" Nurse Murphy asked as she turned to her computer.

"Gellar...Monica Gellar." Chandler said.

Nurse Murphy gave the man a sympathetic look and softened her tone which had been a little snarky before. She knew exactly which patient he was referring to. She and many of the other nurses had wondered if the patient had had a boyfriend or not. They knew she had a little girl and a brother, but that was the only family they knew of.

"Are you family?" She asked him.

Chandler thought for a moment. He knew he couldn't tell her the truth because she would more than likely refer him to the psychiatric ward for testing; he couldn't tell her he was a friend or she wouldn't give him any information, so he decided to lie. He slowly nodded his head.

"What's your relationship to her?" Nurse Murphy asked. "I've already met her brother."

"I'm her cousin." He said a little to quickly. "But we were more like best friends growing up."

The nurse nodded. "Ok, so if I decided to call her brother he would know you Mr..."

"Bing." He said cutting her off. "Chandler Bing, and Ross would definitely know who I was." He hoped he hadn't screwed things up. He remembered Monica talking about a Ross and he thought she had mentioned that he was her brother.

Nurse Murphy looked satisfied before looking up the patients information. "Ok Mr. Bing, Ms. Gellar is on the 3rd floor, ICU room 313." She even grabbed a pen and paper and wrote it out for him.

"Thank you." Chandler said flashing her a bright smile. "Can I just ask you if you know anything about her condition?"

The nurse shook her head. "There's no improvement. She's still in a coma."

Chandler nodded sadly, before saying goodbye and headed for the elevator.

Once inside he pressed the button for floor number 3.

"So what did you find out?" A voice asked startling him.

Chandler ended up hitting his head against the wall before looking around and seeing Monica standing beside him.

"Geez, don't do that or I will end up right next to you in the ICU." Chandler quipped as he rubbed his head.

"Not funny Chandler." Monica said showing no signs of finding any humor in his comment.

"Well neither is giving a guy a heart attack." Chandler retorted. He sighed as he held the slip of paper up for her to see. "This is your room number."

Monica studied it carefully before whispering, "this is so surreal."

Chandler nodded in agreement. "I had to pretend to be your cousin just so they would give me information."

Monica smiled. "Well thank you for doing that. I promise I will make it up to you someday."

"No need." Chandler assured her. "I was looking for something to relieve me from my boring, mundane life and I found it, so really your the one doing me the favor."

"Well then I guess we are even." She joked.

"Leave the jokes to me." Chandler laughed as he stepped off the elevator and onto the third floor ICU.

They walked until they found room 313. Chandler paused just outside the door. "Are you ready for this?" He asked her.

Monica nodded. "It's my body."

They walked in to see another nurse checking over her vitals.

"Oh I'm sorry." Chandler apologized for the interuption.

"No need." The nurse assured him. "I was just finishing up with her. May I ask who you are?"

"Her cousin." Chandler explained.

She nodded and left the room to get on with her duties.

Chandler looked at Monica's body. If it was surreal before, it was even more so now. He couldn't believe he was looking at the body of the same woman who he had been talking to for the past 24 hours. She was beautiful, even unconscious. Her long, raven colored hair was strewn across the pillow. She had a tube running up her nose and a ventilator covering her mouth, besides that she just looked like she was sleeping.

He looked over to see "ghost Monica" running her hands over the face of her body. He couldn't believe how strange the sight before him was, it was like something you'd see in a movie.

"How do you feel?" He asked finally getting up the courage to talk to her.

"Unreal." She said. "I feel like I'm in some sci-fi thriller."

Chandler laughed. "I'll bet."

"I feel this undeniable connection to this body yet at the same time, I feel detached." Monica said as she tried to explain.

"Why don't you try, I don't know laying down, getting inside your body?" Chandler asked. It seemed like the most logical thing to do.

Monica nodded as she climbed onto the bed and lowered herself. She disappeared for a few seconds before re-appearing.

"It's not working." She said getting frustrated. "Why isn't it working? I tried to move any sort of limb and nothing happens. I can't will myself to do anything and this is my body." She cried.

Chandler wanted to take her in his arms and hold her tightly, but he knew that he couldn't, instead he just listened to her cry.

"I'm so sorry, Monica. I'm sorry this happened to you." Chandler whispered to her.

Monica gave him a strange look. "Why are you sorry? You weren't the jerk that hit me, you didn't do anything. You've only been trying to help me."

"I know, I just wish there was a way I could help you more." Chandler sighed in frustration.

"You have helped." Monica insisted. "Look at all you've done for me, a complete stranger."

"You don't feel like a stranger anymore." Chandler told her.

She smiled slightly, touched by his words. "Thank you."

"There's gotta be some way to get you awake." Chandler said thoughtfully.

"Try talking to me." Monica said.

"I don't know, Monica. What good would it do?" He asked.

"It's worth a shot, see if my body feels any physical connection to you, like my spirit does."

"Alright, I guess it doesn't hurt to try." He said and walked closer to the bed, pulled up and chair and took her small hand in his.

He looked around to see that her spirit had disappeared, leaving him alone in the room.

"Monica?" He whispered gently to her. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but you've got to wake up. You have your whole life ahead of you and plenty of more time to get some shut eye, that is not right now." He joked. "Not that you need it, you'd be beautiful no matter how much sleep you got. Remember Hannah? That precious little girl of yours, she's going to need her mommy. I know I don't know her but I have gotten to know you a bit and if she's anything like you, then I'm sure she's amazing. If anything is worth you waking up for, it's her." He finished by kissing her hand and placing it back on it's original resting place on her stomach.

He looked up and saw that her spirit was back. "Anything?" He asked her.

She shook her head sadly. "I heard what you said though, it was beautiful."

"You know, I feel like the key to you waking up is right under our noses." Chandler said.

Monica nodded. "I know, but what is it?"

Just then it dawned on Chandler. Hannah. Monica had explained to him earlier about how her whole life was her daughter, how Hannah was the one person who gave Monica a purpose in this world.

"Monica, I know how to help you, I know how to wake you up." Chandler said giving her a smile that made her smile as well.

"What?" She asked enthusiastically.

"It's not what, it's who." Chandler said.

"Well then who?"

"Hannah."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Monica looked at him strangely. "Hannah?" She questioned.

Chandler waved her bewildered look off. "Just think about it, Mon. You yourself said that your daughter was your sole purpose in life, and like I said before, if anythings going to be worth waking up for, it's her. Maybe if you saw her or listened to her talk to you, your body and soul would make a connection to her and you'd wake up."

The more Monica thought about it, the more his theory made sense. "Ok but even if Hannah is the key to my recovery, how are we supposed to get her up here? This is the ICU in case you didn't notice, children aren't supposed to be here."

Chandler nodded. "So maybe we will have to break a few rules, but it will be worth it if it gets you up and out of here."

Just then Chandler heard a couple of nurses talking in the hall and he realized they were talking about Monica.

"Dr. Rush says that he has gotten into contact with the brother and they agreed that if the patient doesn't show any signs of waking up or brain activity by tomorrow night, we will have to take her off life support." One nurse said.

"It's so sad, she's so young and I heard she's a single mother, that poor child." The other nurse sighed heavily. "I am praying for a miracle here."

Chandler's jaw dropped as he overheard the conversation, as did Monica's.

"They're going to take me off life support?" She gasped. "How can they do that? Why would Ross agree to that? Just because they think I am showing signs of little brain activity. I can think just fine." She huffed.

"It's not all that surprising, if you show little brain activity it usually means your clinically dead." Chandler said softly, not meaning to upset her.

"Well someone's been watching one too many medical dramas." Monica replied, angrily. "So does this mean we just give up? I die and you go back to your normal, boring life?"

Chandler shook his head vigorously. "No. There is no way we have come this far to just give up. I am not letting you go without a fight."

"Then what do we do, Chandler?" She asked sounding frightened.

"We have to step up our plan and act quickly. You need to give me your address." Chandler instructed to which Monica was more than willing to oblige.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"I am going to talk some sense into your brother and hopefully he will help me get Hannah down here." Chandler explained.

"Ok." Monica agreed. "It won't be easy though, once Ross has made a decision it's usually pretty hard to change his mind."

"Well that's fine because I can be pretty persuasive myself." Chandler said with a slight smile on his face.

Chandler managed to find Monica's apartment easily enough and before he knew it, he was standing in front of apartment 20. He knew their had to be someone home because he heard moving inside. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Yes?" A tall man with dark brown hair similar to Monica's answered. It could only be assumed this was her brother, Ross.

"Hi, I'm looking for a Ross Gellar?" Chandler said.

"I'm Ross." He replied. "Can I help you?"

"You don't know me, but I'm a friend of your sister, Monica's." Chandler explained.

"Ok, what's your name?" Ross asked as he let Chandler inside.

"Chandler Bing." He held out his hand, which Ross shook after a slight hesitation.

"Chandler? I've never heard her mention you before." Ross stated skeptically.

"We haven't known eachother long, just a few days actually, but we've gotten pretty close in those few days." Chandler laughed nervously, not wanting to lie to the guy anymore than he had to.

"Well then I guess you know then that Monica was in an accident and is in a coma." Ross said.

Chandler nodded. "I heard. Actually I just came from the hospital, from visiting her. I overheard the nurses saying something that worried me."

Ross gulped as if he knew what was coming. "What did you hear?"

"I heard that if Monica didn't show any signs of waking up or brain activity by tomorrow night, they were going to remove her from the ventilator and that you had given them permission to do so." Chandler said.

Ross nodded sadly, looking down at his shoes. "It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make but it's not doing her any good being kept alive like that. It's not what Monica would have wanted."

"How do you know?" Chandler questioned.

Ross shrugged. "We talked about it before. She said that if something happened to her that she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means if there was really nothing that could be done and no hope of her gaining awareness."

"And how do you know there's not? From what I know about Monica, she's a very spirited person." Chandler said and then had to laugh at the irony. She was spirited in more than one way. "She doesn't seem like the type to give up that easily."

Ross smiled slightly for the first time since meeting Chandler. "Your right, she's not the type to give up, but sometimes things happen where there is really no other choice, and this is one of those times."

"I don't know. I think there's hope yet." Chandler said.

Ross laughed shortly. "Oh really? Do you have any ideas on how to wake her up because I'm fresh out."

"Hannah." Chandler said.

"What about her?" Ross asked.

"She could be the key to waking Monica up." Chandler explained.

"You know nothing about her." Ross said.

"That's not true." Chandler stated. "I've heard Monica talk about her a lot. I know that she's Monica's reason for living, what better reason for her to wake up?"

"Even so, Hannah's not even allowed to visit her mother, otherwise I would have taken her down there myself." Ross said.

"Then we break a few rules and get her in there." Chandler said simply as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Ross thought about it and then shook his head. "No, I'm sorry Mr. Bing. I know Monica's your friend and your just trying to help and believe me if there was any way I could help my sister out of this, then I would do it, but I will not put my niece through that. Hannah has had enough to deal with, she's only 3 she can barely register what is going on. The only thing she knows is that Mommy is more than likely not coming home."

"You don't think it's going to be even harder for her in the long run if we don't at least try?" Chandler asked. "It's not going to hurt Hannah to see her mother like that. You just said she's 3 which means she probably won't even remember this down the road and even if she does it's not like Monica looks that bad. We'll just tell her she's sleeping." Chandler said.

Ross sighed. "I don't know about this."

Chandler looked up surprised. Could it be that Ross was caving? "Excuse me?"

"How are we going to sneak her in?" Ross asked with a slight mischievous look in his eyes.

"Your looking at a mastermind." Chandler joked, grinning widely. "So your on board?"

"I guess so. What could it hurt? At least if nothing else, we'll know we tried." He said.

Just then a little girl came flying through the door and into Ross' arms. "Uncie Ross, guess what?"

Ross had to smile at his niece's energetic personality. "What?" He asked.

"Auntie Rachel took me to the flower store and we gots daisies, Mommy's flower." Hannah said grinning proudly, showing off the small bouquet.

"Those are pretty Han." He said kissing the little girls hair. Ross stood up with the little girl in his arms. "Hannah there's someone I want you to meet."

Hannah turned to face the strange man in her home. "Hi." She said.

"This is Chandler Bing." Ross explained to her. "Chandler this is Hannah."

"Bing." Hannah giggled. "I like that, can I change that to my last name?" She asked Ross.

Chandler smiled at the little girl. He could easily tell she was Monica's daughter and not just based on her looks. She had Monica's laugh and her love of talking as well and her fun loving nature.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Hannah." Chandler said.

"Are you a friend of my Mommy's?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah I met your Mommy a few days ago." Chandler explained.

"Mommy's sick." Hannah said sadly.

"I know Princess." Chandler said, not really sure where the nickname had come from.

"Princess?" Hannah eyed him strangely. "That's what Mommy calls me."

"Well you do look like one." Chandler said causing Hannah to burst into a fit of giggles again.

"I can't look like a princess, I don't have a dress or tara." Hannah said.

"Tiara." Ross corrected.

"Whatever." Hannah answered with a roll of her eyes making her seem more like a defiant teenager than a 3 year old girl.

"Hey Hannah, what would you think about going to see your Mommy?" Ross asked and caught Rachel's eye as she walked into the apartment.

"Ross are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked.

Ross nodded. "I think she needs to."

Rachel reluctantly agreed with him before spotting Chandler who was standing there awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've been introduced." Rachel said with a friendly smile.

"I'm Chandler, a friend of Monica's." He said quickly, smiling at her and sticking out his hand.

"I'm Rachel, her best friend." Rachel said taking his hand.

"She's talked about you, both you and Ross actually." He said.

"Really, all good things I hope." Rachel questioned.

"Yeah, very good." Chandler answered.

"So what do you say Hannah Bannana." Ross asked. "Want to see Mommy?"

Hannah's eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically and then struggled to be let down.

"I'm gonna go get the piture I made her." Hannah said running to her room.

It was then that Chandler caught site of Monica's spirit watching her daughter run into her room. She had the biggest smile on her face that Chandler had seen since he met her and it was then that he knew that no matter what future lay ahead for him and Monica, it would was all worth it if it would help keep that smile on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ross, Chandler and Rachel sat up all night discussing their plan for getting Hannah in to the ICU to see Monica. They agreed that in order for their plan to succeed, certain laws would have to be broken, those being trespassing laws.

It was the following afternoon that the finally set their plan into motion. Hannah had been waiting eagerly to see her mother all day. She had been told that in order to see her Mommy she would have to be quiet as a mouse. That was all she knew. She didn't need to know about all the rule breaking that would take place.

Once the group arrived at the hospital it was decided that Ross would be the one to distract the nurses while Chandler and Rachel snuck the little girl up the back stairwell of the building.

"Are you ready?" Rachel asked her boyfriend as she shifted Hannah in her arms.

Ross nodded. "I'd do anything to help my sister, even risk jail." He joked.

"Not funny Ross." Rachel exclaimed. "We are not going to jail because we are not going to get caught."

"That's the spirit." Chandler said. He had spent the majority of the last 24 hours with Ross and Rachel and he could see why Monica was so close with them. They were good people. Ross and Chandler had even discovered that they had went to the same university and had graduated the same year, in different fields obviously. "Want me to take her Rachel?" He offered.

Rachel smiled and nodded at him appreciatively. Hannah had taken an immediate liking to Chandler, something which had surprised everyone. She was normally shy around people she had just met, but now she seemed to have Chandler wrapped around her little finger. He had even helped to tuck her in the night before and read her a story.

Rachel transferred the little girl into his arms and walked up the Ross, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "That was for good luck."

Ross smiled at her. "In that case, I think I could use a little extra luck." He said as they began to kiss eachother deeply.

Chandler looked on, but after a minute he decided that that was enough. "Ok guys, it's great that your in love and everything, but we've got a kid here."

They broke the kiss with laughter and shook their heads at him. They could both see why Monica had taken a liking to him, even if she had never mentioned him to them. He seemed like a great guy and he really cared about Monica.

"So everybody knows the plan?" Chandler asked and was given nods in response. "Good, so Ross you distract the nurse as best you can."

He nodded.

"I even give you permission to flirt." Rachel said jokingly, knowing how bad of a flirt he was.

"Very funny Rach." Ross said annoyed. "Good luck you guys and be careful."

Chandler and Rachel nodded before heading for the back of the building and ascending the stairs. They managed to get to the third floor without being seen, so far so good. They now stood in the stairwell, waiting for Ross to signal them that it was ok to enter. He hadn't shown up yet.

Chandler took the time to reflect on the last 24 hours. He was a little concerned over the fact that he hadn't seen Monica in awhile. The last time he had seen her was the night before when he read Hannah a bed time story. She had sat in the corner of the room, smiling as he read to her daughter. He figured that Monica had decided to make herself scarce because he had been spending so much time hanging around Ross and Rachel and she didn't want to make him seem weird to them.

Rachel checked her watch. It had been 15 minutes since they had started the plan. Ross should have been here by now. "You guys stay here and stay hidden, I'm going to see what's going on with Ross. I'll be right back." She said and Chandler nodded.

"Ok we'll be right here." He said, although he sounded a little nervous over the prospect of being left with a 3 year old, despite the fact that she seemed to like him.

"You'll be fine, Chandler." Rachel said as if she could read his thoughts.

He nodded and watched her go before he felt Hannah stirring from her slumber in his arms.

"Channy?" Hannah asked as she awoke to see her new friend. She had a hard time pronouncing his name, so she had decided on a nickname for him.

"Hey Munchkin." He said as he tickled her little chin. She burst into a fit of giggles before remembering she had to be quiet.

"Can I see Mommy yet?" Hannah asked.

Chandler shook his head. "Not just yet honey, but soon I promise."

"I saw Mommy last night." Hannah whispered to him as if revealing her deepest, darkest secret.

Chandler looked at her surprised. "You did?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. She was sitting in my room watching you read me a story."

"You saw her Hannah? Are you sure?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah and I know you saw her to, I saw you smile at her and wink."

Chandler couldn't believe the observancy of this kid. She didn't miss anything. "It'll just be our little secret, ok Hannah? Yours, mine and Mommy's."

Hannah thought about it for a minute before smiling and nodding. "Ok I like having secrets." She giggled. "Especially with Mommy."

Chandler had to laugh at that. He could imagine the secrets that Monica and Hannah shared, being as close as they were. "Hannah, have you seen your Mommy since last night?"

She nodded. "She woke me up this morning and told me I was coming to see her today."

Chandler sighed in relief. At least she hadn't disappeared completely. "Ok good."

Just then they saw Rachel running back, motioning for them to follow her. Chandler quickly lifted the little girl into his arms and ran after Rachel, who lead them to a supply closet.

"What's going on?" Chandler asked worriedly. "Where's Ross?"

"At the reception desk, getting updates on Monica." Rachel explained. "Come on, we don't have much time." She had found a large laundry cart on wheels that was just big enough for 2 people to fit in. "I thought we could use this." She explained. "Hannah and I can get in and you can push us."

"Ok but what about the fact that I am dressed nothing like an orderly?" Chandler asked.

"Relax, I swiped this from the nurses station. I know my way around hospitals. My Dad is a doctor."

Chandler took the smocks that she held out to him and slipped them on over his clothes. He looked every part the hospital orderly. "This is genius." He exclaimed.

Rachel smiled. "I know, I know." She quipped before taking Hannah from his arms. "Alright honey, now this is a little game were going to play. You and I will get in this cart and we have to stay as quiet as possible, understand?"

Hannah nodded, not really sure what was happening but she knew it would lead to her mother, so she didn't care. She let Rachel placed her in the cart and then Rachel climb in after her.

Chandler exited the storage closet and took a quick glance around to make sure nobody was coming. He proceeded to begin pushing the cart down the long hallway. Out of nowhere a nurse came flying out after him.

"Excuse me." She said. "I don't recognize you."

Chandler gulped, watching Joey's acting lessons was about to pay off. "I know, I'm sorry. My name is Jason. I'm a new orderly. I got transferred here from Memorial Hospital." He explained, desperately hoping she believed him.

"Where's your nametag?" She asked.

Chandler looked down at his outfit pretending to search for one. "Well I'll be." He murmured. "I guess it must have fallen off somewhere around here. I swear I had it 5 minutes ago." He then looked around the area.

The nurse looked at him skeptically before deciding that if he was actually looking for the nametag, he must be telling the truth. She rolled her eyes slightly at him and walked away.

"Phew." Chandler exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief.

"What was that?" Rachel asked poking her head out from under a pile of sheets.

"Would you duck back down?" Chandler hissed. "What if somebody sees you?"

"Chandler there's nobody around so relax." Rachel rolled her eyes. "Who was that?"

"A nurse. I think I got rid of her but she's still suspicious of something, so we have to move." He said as he began pushing the cart towards Monica's room.

Rachel understood and got back down with Hannah. Chandler led them into Monica's room and looked towards the bed. He could see that not much had changed since yesterday. She still looked like she was just sleeping peacefully, with the exception of being surrounded by tubes.

"Ok guys, were here." Chandler said coming to a sudden stop before checking around to make sure nobody had seen them come in.

He helped Rachel out first before lifting Hannah out as well. The little girl smiled brightly upon seeing her mother but then frowned when she saw her condition.

"Mommy's still sick?" She inquired.

Chandler bent down to her level. "Yeah Munchkin, but she's going to feel a lot better now that your here."

Rachel put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from saying anything more. "Maybe we shouldn't get her hopes up?"

Chandler reluctantly nodded in agreement. "I guess." He looked back at Hannah. "Sweetie, can you do us a favor?"

Hannah nodded. "What?"

"Could you talk to your Mommy?" Chandler asked.

"But she's sleeping, how can she hear me?" Hannah asked.

"She can hear you Hannah, I promise." Chandler said. "At the very least she can feel you here with her and that would help her."

"Ok. What do I say to her?"

"Just tell her about your day. You can tell her anything." Chandler said. "Talk to her like you would any other time, understand?"

She nodded before walking over to the bed and asking Rachel to help her up.

Chandler couldn't believe how smart the little girl was, she seemed to understand everything he asked of her and she was only 3.

"Hiya Mommy." Hannah said with a grin on her face. "It's amost night time, you shoulda woke up by now. You never let me sleep late." She added causing Chandler and Rachel to both let out a small laugh. "I'm sposed to tell you about my day. I made a new friend, but he's your friend to. His name is Chaner but I can't say it so I call him Channy." She giggled. "His las name is Bing, isn't that silly?" Hannah asked but didn't even wait for a response, as she knew she wouldn't get one. "He brought me here to see you, so you would wake up."

"Excuse me, what is going on here?" A voice called from the entranceway causing everyone to turn around and gasp in response.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Who are you people?" A nurse asked walking into the room. "And what is she doing in here?" She gestured towards Hannah. "We don't allow children in the ICU."

"This is a special circumstance." Chandler said stepping up. "Hi, I'm Jason. I just transferred here from Memorial Hospital."

The nurse nodded. "I heard about you from one of the other nurses. She was a little skeptical about you so she asked me to check things out. I looked in our system and there is no record of anyone named Jason being transferred to this hospital. I'm going to have to ask you all to leave before I call security."

"No please." Rachel pleaded with the nurse, leaving Hannah sitting on the bed, still quietly talking to her mother. "We are just here to visit this patient, that is allowed right?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes, but we don't allow children up here."

"Nurse...Blake." Chandler caught a look at her nametag. "Can't you just make an exception this once? This little girl is the patient's daughter, she's been waiting days to see her mother. Please, she's only 3, what harm could she do?"

"I'm sorry, it's a general rule, I can't make any exceptions. If I made an exception for you, I'd have to make one for everybody else. I'm very sorry about Ms. Gellar, I was hoping to see her get better, but it looks as if she will be taken off the ventilator tonight. There's nothing more we can do for her. I would suggest you all say your goodbyes." Nurse Blake said sympathetically. She really did feel for these people, but she was at her wits end. The hospital and patient's family had made their decision.

Chandler nodded slowly. "Well could you at least give her daughter a few more minutes then?"

Nurse Blake looked at them and then over at Hannah who was curled up next to her mother, whispering softly.

"Alright, I suppose a few minutes wouldn't hurt." She agreed reluctantly. "But please, no more than that. I could get fired for allowing this."

"Thank you...thank you." Rachel said sincerely, shaking the women's hand. "You don't know how much we appreciate this."

"I think I do." The nurse said with a small smile. "And your welcome." With that she walked out of the room, leaving the 3 to stand around Monica's bed.

After a minute Rachel decided to go find Ross and tell them their cover was blown, leaving Chandler and Hannah alone.

"Well Ms. Hannah, are you having a good talk with your Mom?" Chandler asked.

Hannah looked at him with a sad smile on her face. "Yeah, I just wish she would talk back. Why isn't she talking back? Where's ghost Mommy?"

Chandler looked around and still didn't spot Monica anywhere. "I don't know honey, I really wish I did."

"Chaner, what if sumthing happened to her and she can't come back?" Hannah asked worriedly.

"I'm sure it's fine sweetie." Chandler tried to reassure her, but he didn't know how to do that when he couldn't be so sure himself. He didn't understand why he couldn't see Monica. He had figured she would have showed up as soon as she saw Hannah in the room. He had thought Hannah was the key to waking her mother up. Hannah was Monica's world and if anything were to keep her going, it would be Hannah. Monica wouldn't give up, would she?

"Listen Munchkin, you stay here while I go find your Aunt Rachel, ok? I've got to take care of something. No pressing any of those buttons." Chandler said.

Hannah nodded understandingly before turning her attention back to Monica.

Chandler walked out of the room to find Ross and Rachel seemingly in deep conversation. "What's going on?"

Ross looked at him crossly. "Chandler where's Hannah? You can't just leave her in the room by herself."

Chandler rolled his eyes. "Relax Ross, she's just talking to Monica, she's fine. She won't hurt anything."

"There's some bad news..." Rachel started.

"More bad news?" Chandler asked, not sure if he could take it.

Ross and Rachel nodded. "They decided to go ahead with the removal of the ventilator tonight, sooner rather than later."

Chandler looked alarmed. "What? How can they do that? Ross your family, can't you stop it?"

Ross shook his head sadly. "There's nothing I can do, I already signed that form plus they had the thing that Monica signed a long time ago saying that if anything happened to her, she wouldn't be kept alive by artificial means any longer than necessary. The hospital is running out of room and they are adamant that there is nothing they can do for her."

"Well you've gotta stop them." Chandler exclaimed. "They can't do this, not yet."

"Chandler, I know you care about my sister, but my hands are tied." Ross said. "I'm sorry, god you don't know how sorry."

"Ross is right, Chandler." Rachel said. "We need to say our goodbyes."

Chandler shook his head. "No not yet, please just stall them a little while longer, there is something I need to do first...please." He begged, not caring how pathetic he looked.

Ross sighed. "Fine...a little while longer, but please hurry back."

Chandler nodded as he headed for his destination...the hospital chapel. He didn't know how much praying would help, he had never been a very religious person, but he had heard of miracles happening and that was what he needed...a miracle.

He walked into the chapel, took a look around to make sure nobody was around, and walked to the front, leaning down on his knees and looking up at the cross that stood tall in front of him.

He didn't even know what he was supposed to say in this kind of situation, so he just let the words flow naturally. "God, I know we haven't have exactly been on the best of terms, I haven't prayed for anything since I was 9 and my parents were getting divorced. But since you couldn't grant me that one little favor and stopped their divorce like I asked, maybe you could grant me this favor? It's not even necessarily for me, but for Hannah, a little girl who's about to lose everything. Please God, don't take her mother away from her, Monica's all she's got. I don't even understand why I'm here, why I felt such an urgent need to help Monica and her family. Before a couple of days ago, I didn't even know they existed, yet now I can't seem to stop thinking about them...about her. She's on my mind everywhere I go. When I close my eyes at night, she's there; when I wake up in the morning, she's there. I have never connected with anyone the way I connected to her or her little girl. All I know is I need to do everything I can to help her. I can't lose her..I need her and yet I don't even really know her. Her family needs her, her little girl...please God, please don't take her. Spare her, she doesn't deserve any of this."

He closed his eyes and let the tears flow from his eyes, really allowing himself to break down for the first time. He cried for what seemed like hours before he felt something brush across his face. For the first time, he realized how chilly it was in the room. He jumped up, startled, when he felt something on his shoulder. He turned around and gasped when he saw who was standing behind him.

"H..hi." He stammered, not sure what to say. He had thought she was gone.

Monica smiled at him. "Hi."

"Where've you been?" Chandler asked concerned. "I've been watching and waiting for you all day."

Monica nodded. "I know. I've been watching you."

"Why didn't you come out of hiding? Hannah was scared that something had happened to you, when you didn't come out after Rachel left." Chandler exclaimed.

"I'm sorry...I wanted to, I tried, but for some reason I couldn't. It was like I just didn't have the energy." Monica tried to explain. "When I heard you just now, what you were saying to me, somehow I felt stronger."

Chandler took in her words, trying to decipher what she was telling him. "Monica, do you know why you couldn't get back to us?"

Monica shook her head. "No, I tried everything. I was giving up hope, until I heard what you said."

Chandler's eyes all of a sudden lit up as if a lightbulb had just went off in his brain. "That's it."

"What's it?" Monica asked confused.

"That's why you had so much trouble getting back to us, you were giving up hope. Losing hope made you weak." He explained. "When you heard what I was saying, you must have realized that you had a big reason to hold on, you realized that we were fighting for you and that gave you strength. Monica, so long as you have hope, we have a chance at saving you."

"Without hope, you die." Monica whispered.

"What was that?" Chandler asked.

"Something my Nana used to say, without hope you die." Monica repeated.

Chandler smiled. "Your Nana was a smart woman. Stick to that philosophy and you can get through anything."

"I hope your right, Chandler, I really do." Monica said.

"I always am." He assured her and off her look, he sighed. "Ok mostly."

Monica laughed and for the first time in days, felt a sense of relief course through her. But it seemed as though as soon as that relief came, it vanished as a new wave of emotion took over. Suddenly she felt very strange.

"Chandler something's happening." Monica said frightened at this new feeling.

"What's wrong?" He asked, seeing her start to fade. "Monica.."

"I feel strange, almost light headed but that's not possible considering I'm not real." Monica said. "What's happening to me?"

"I don't know honey, but you have to stay strong. Remember Hannah? Keep reminding yourself of her, I'm going to see what's happening, try and stay with me." He said.

Monica nodded as she followed him down the halls and into the ICU. As soon as Chandler spotted Ross outside Monica's hospital room, he knew something was up.

"Ross, what's going on?" Chandler asked, afraid of the answer.

"They're disconnecting her." He said. "I tried to stop them, but they wouldn't."

"No." Chandler gasped as he ran into the room to stop the doctors. "Stop." He shouted above all the other noise. "You can't do this."

"Sir, you need to leave." A nurse said trying to escort him out. "There's nothing left for us to do for the patient, she is clinically dead."

Chandler yanked himself from her grasp and shoved several of the doctors out of the way, ignoring their pleas to get him to leave.

"Mon..Monica." He said grasping her hand tightly and running his other hand through her hair, you have to wake up, you have to. Your strong Monica, the strongest person I've ever met. You have a little girl, remember Hannah. She needs you. You have Ross and Rachel and if you wake up, you'll have me to." He pleaded with her.

"You need to leave." A doctor ordered him."It's too late."

"The hell it is." Chandler said as he leaned down and did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her, very passionately on the lips, in front of everyone.


End file.
